2008 was a very interesting year for me, beginning in one country and ending in another. The start of the year was filled with hopes, the promises I made to myself, the excitement of coming back home and the urge to do new things. Looking back, the year was, as always, a mixed bag.

On the positives, I made a few good friends, made some relationships stronger and patched up some that were down in the dumps. Career wise too it ended up being a pretty good year more or less.

On the negative side, I feel I have spend less and less time with my family and there is a huge guilt growing inside me regarding that. And some habits that I wished I could eraze, I haven’t been able to. And I admit, I don’t think I really tried sincerely, though I fooled myself and others around that I did.

Then there was this one single incident had a huge impact on how I perceived myself and how I thought people perceived me. It had left a pretty bad scar on me that, however hard I try to rub it off, it just comes back staring me at my face. But I wouldn’t say it was all for the worse. I did learn a few valuable lessons in life out of that. I guess I am now able to assess people better and place them where they belong. :)

2008 was also the year of terror for many. I have seen it too close for comfort and to be not affected by it. I can speak loads and loads about it, but it would change nothing. It’s actions that matter and since I have not done any small thing that would have made a difference, I guess I don’t have a right to speak about it. I’ll just say this – Kudos to all the commandos, policemen, security guards and army-men who were prepared to lay down their life, despite serving corrupt masters and the ‘Why-should-we-care?’ middle class people like me.

In general I guess I have been a very lucky person. The storms in my life so far have been really mild. The little troubles I have had compares nothing to what a lot of people go through. I wish my luck continues, but as that cannot be true forever, I hope I can fight the bigger demons that I would have to face, better. And have the mind and the guts to do things for the greater good.

Wishing you a better 2009!

About two things that I happened to notice…

One
My workplace is on the eleventh floor of my office building. Therefore the lift is an integral part of our daily routine. The lifts here have these operator guys who are inside these boxes for hours together doing a pretty mundane job. I wonder how they manage it, because we the ‘elite techies’ get frustrated if the lift stops at more than one intermediate floor. It must be such a frustrating and thankless job that they are doing.

Then I started noticing Gayathri (my colleague, classmate, friend and ‘G’ on this blog) say ‘Thank you’ each time she got out of the lift. I didn’t think much about it then, but the other day after giving it some thought I realized the value of such a simple statement. It would make their day so much better. The power of one simple gesture! I have had differences with her attitude, with her behaviour many a time, but I admire her for all these little things she does :) And now I know why every time she gets in the lift, the operator always knows to press the 11th Floor button without her telling him and why that seldom happens to me. A small lesson in inter-personal relationships…

Two
The other day, my friend Ranjith got a call from one of our mutual friends. They had not spoken for a very long time and she said that age old excuse – ‘Was so busy, didn’t get the time’. Then he said something back that struck me then and there. ‘You can’t spare five minutes of your time for a friend? That’s the worst response to that’. It really is when you come to think of it. Aren’t your friends worth atleast 5 minutes of your time? If they are not well there’s trouble. He may have said that just for the sake of responding. But it did make me think a lot. Staying in touch is a virtue difficult to attain and I believe if you manage to do it, it is the armour to have against the bumps on the road in your life. You never know… sometimes the person whom you least expect to, would be the only one there for you. So its always better to keep the numbers high :)